Torah Mantle

Austrian
1877/1878

Dimensions

Overall: 81.3 x 43.2 cm (32 x 17 in.)

Accession Number

2016.399

Medium or Technique

Velvet, lined with cotton, with gold fringe. Embroidered in gold with threads wrapped to resemble jewels.

Not On View

Classifications

Religious and cult objects

Used to cover the Torah when not in use, and for display on days of reading from the Torah in synagogue. Inscribed in Hebrew: “Gift of Joseph Frank and his wife Rosalia, 5638 (1877/78).”

Provenance

1878, presented by Joseph and Rosalea Frank to a synagogue, possibly in Austria [see note]. Between about the 1940s and 1970s, acquired by Dr. Abraham I. Katsh (b. 1907 – d. 1998), New York; by inheritance to his daughter, Shelley Katsh, Pawtucket, RI; 2016, gift of Shelley Katsh and Mark Gabry to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 28, 2016)

NOTE: Inscribed in Hebrew: “Gift of Joseph Frank and his wife Rosalea, 1878.” It is not known precisely when or where Dr. Katsh acquired the torah cover. He traveled extensively to Russia, Eastern Europe, and Israel beginning in the 1940s.

Credit Line

Gift of Ms. Shelley Katsh and Dr. Mark Gabry in memory of Mrs. Estelle W. and Dr. Abraham I. Katsh—Katsh Family Judaica Collection